Silence of Rydonia
by ImagineNomieX
Summary: On the planet Rydonia, children are starting to go missing from their families with hardly any trace of who, or what has taken them. When the Doctor and Donna arrive for what was going to be a relaxing walk on one of the most beautiful natural planets in the universe, they are quickly plunged into a terror that will lead to an adventure that will test them both. Doc!Whump included!
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! So here it is - the 'big one' has lifted off! I promise it will be updated as much as possible and I really hope you all enjoy it. Please read and review, I love feedback! **

**-x-**

**Prologue**

Montusa was the type of girl that never listened to orders. And tonight, she was disobeying orders momentously.

It was her camps monthly ceremony of the great four moons that hung in the sky, where every man, woman and child in each camp would gather round a huge fire and sing the harmony of the planet Rydonia, thanking the Gods for the four blessed moons. Frankly, Montusa couldn't care a pound less.

She had been told by her mother that she was not to leave the camp under any circumstances. Two children had mysteriously gone missing in the past harvest and her mother just wanted her safe. But, Montusa being Montusa, she didn't listen. She didn't want to, or even need to listen. She was twelve harvest years old anyway.

Armed with a piece of wood that had a small fire burning on top of it and a shoulder bag made from the softest deer fur, she creped silently behind the main tent of her camp, patterned with red wolves and trees, and then quickly scurried away into the main forest. Looking behind her, she could see all of her camp gathered round the colossal fire, singing, dancing and beating the drums so loud that it was blowing her ears off from the distance she was standing away from them.

Thankfully, no one appeared to have seen her, so she turned and began to head deeper in the forest.

Rydonia was a lovey planet that possessed gigantic wild forests and tall mountains with the wildest creatures prowling on them. Montusa did enjoy living here, but she always wanted to see things that she wasn't allowed to see at her age. Her older brother, Tu'ka, had travelled on his first hunt a few harvests ago and she had desperately wanted to join him. But everyone kept telling her that she was 'too young' or 'not old enough'. She didn't like those phrases. So she was going to prove them wrong.

Montusa was going to go out and find the rarest fruit that could be collected on her planet. Yoguma looked like a purple version of an orange and tasted a bit like strawberry mixed with banana. It only grew on the outskirts of the forest and could only be collected this season of the harvest, so Montusa was going to collect the biggest bunch she could find and bring it back to the camp. That would show them that she was not too young to complete adult tasks.

Trudging through the mangled bushes and low branches of the forest, the only source of light now being her piece of wood that was just managing to stay lit, Montusa thoroughly searched with her eyes for the type of tree that grew the Yoguma fruit but she wasn't having any luck yet.

Suddenly, what sounded like a twig snapping behind her made Montusa jump and she quickly turned round to where the noise had emitted from. All she could see was a few trees that were lit by her torch and past that was only darkness.

Trying to think nothing of it, Montusa turned and began her search once again. She could no longer hear the drums of her camp. Instead, there was the odd occasional howl or shriek of the Red native Monkeys that roamed the area and also the little tapping of the different insects.

However, a little further on, there was yet again another snap. But this time it was louder.

Montusa spun round again, this time, fear rising slowly within her. She pointed her torch out again, trying to search for the source of the noise.

Her heart almost stopped when she noticed that a bush, about five feet away from her was rustling. Something was there.

Swallowing her fear and just wanting to be brave, Montusa slowly and timidly approached the rustling bush. As she got closer to it, she could hear a small chirping noise that sounded like a small bird. She reached out her hand and pointed the torch end to the bush so she could see clearly.

Placing her hand in the bush, she pushed the leaves out of the way. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Curled up in the bush, was a small mountain cat. They were completely harmless and were sometimes considered good protection for camps as they can easily smell out the poisonous lake rats and keep them from eating the food the camps collected.

Montusa, as eager as she was to pick it up and take it back to her camp, decided to leave it be and continue her search. So she turned and held her torch up high to continue through the woods.

After another good few minutes of searching, she finally spotted something that let her know she was heading in the right direction. A few banana trees were scattered around in among the other forest trees and the sweet scent of the variety of fruits was starting to hit her nostrils. A Yoguma tree should pop up somewhere anytime soon.

The fire on the end of the wood was starting to flutter as she continued to walk and was growing smaller by the second. She had to hurry.

Then, by some sort of miracle coincidence, Montusa caught a strong scent of the Yoguma fruit as she was walking into a rather scattered out part of the forest. The trees were a lot more spread out and the night sky was clear in view, the four moons lined up in amongst the shining stars.

She picked up her pace to a quick scuttle as she ran from tree to tree, trying to follow the smell so she could find the rare fruit.

Excitement rushed in her eyes when she finally spotted the bounty. A small tree with the Yoguma fruit hanging from every available branch that she could see on it. It wasn't a massive amount, but it was still a good amount. There was at least a piece for half of the camp.

Montusa rushed over as fast as her legs could carry her and knelt down in front of the tree, dropping her shoulder bag next to her. She carefully propped the torch on the ground at an angle so the fire wasn't able to spread whilst she was collecting the Yoguma.

Immediately, she propped her first piece of fruit from one of the branches and placed it carefully into the bag. Her father had told her that the Yoguma fruit was easily bruised and should be picked with caution. Even though she was eager to get back, it was better taking the fruit back in good condition than bad.

Once she had cleared the front branches, she moved on to the back ones. Reaching through the front branches she plucked a piece from the back and began to bring it out.

However, as her hand moved out of the way, she saw something move directly behind the small tree.

A pair of huge, bulging red eyes were staring at her from in among the gaps of the tree. Montusa froze when she saw them, fear paralyzing her. The eyes looked menacing and belonged to something huge.

Nobody could hear the scream that emitted a few seconds later.

-x-

**Hope you all enjoyed the prologue. First chapter coming up soon! **

**Don't forget to leave a review on your way out! :) **


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So here we go, the first chapter is up! Now the story can officially begin! Please read and enjoy it and don't forget to leave a cheeky little review, even if it's only a few words! **

**-x-**

**Chapter 1**

In amongst the tall evergreen trees in the South Forest on Rydonia, a soft whirring noise began to slowly disturb the peace of the environment. All of the nearby animals began to scatter the area as the noise became louder and louder. A family of mountain cats quickly fled from their designated area when they noticed an object beginning to slowly materialize in their small territory.

As the object became more apparent, the loud whirring noise began to die down and eventually, a large blue box was sitting in amongst the surrounding trees and bushes. It sat silently for a few minutes before there were any signs of life.

The door to the blue box was pulled open from the inside and out stepped a tall, thin man who was wearing a tight blue suit and a long brown overcoat. He made sure the door to the blue box was kept open as another figure appeared from the inside. A woman with glossy red hair that fell to her shoulders and was wearing a long sleeved grey shirt, black pants and golden overcoat, followed his movements outside.

"Here we are then!" The Doctor exclaimed, spreading his long, thin arms out. "What d'you think, Donna?"

"I have to admit, Spaceman, not bad." Donna confirmed with a few slow nods of her head.

"What do you mean 'not bad'?" The Doctor criticized, placing his arms back down by his side. "I promised you a beautiful planet and I gave you a beautiful planet!"

Donna gave a small chuckle. "I wasn't criticizing it, you big prawn! So, what's the name of this planet then?"

"Rydonia, famous for its beauty, its culture and…Oh!"

The Doctor stopped mid-sentence as he spotted something nearby that had obviously caught his eager eyes. Donna watched as he rushed towards what looked like a small tree that was growing a weird looking type of fruit. It looked strangely like a bunch of purple oranges.

The Doctor reached the tree and picked two of the strange looking fruits from one of the branches, and then picked another two which he placed directly into his pocket. He held the other two, one in each hand, and quickly strode back over to where Donna was standing.

"Yoguma! Best fruit in the universe! Well, asides from bananas of course." The Doctor explained as he reached her. He held out one of the fruits for Donna to take. Donna gave a skeptical look.

"It looks like an orange was painted purple." Donna indicated, taking the fruit from the Doctor despite her skepticism. She held it up closer to her face so she could get a better look at it. Then she maneuvered it closer to her nose to give it a sniff. When the scent hit her nostrils, her whole perspective on the fruit changed.

"That smells incredible!" Donna exclaimed. She turned to look at the Doctor to ask him what it looked like on the inside. But she didn't have to ask as the evidence was already in front of her eyes.

The Doctor was devouring his piece of fruit and there was now a purple juice running down his chin and he was finishing the last quarter of it off. When he noticed Donna was staring at him, he stopped his frantic chewing and swallowing and stared back at her.

"That nice, Spaceman?" Donna asked him sarcastically, trying to stop her urge to burst out laughing. He looked like a child that had been caught doing something naughty as he wiped some of the purple juice from his chin.

"What? This is not the type of fruit you eat with delicacy, Donna." He exclaimed as he took another mouthful, chewed and swallowed. "Go on, try it."

Donna looked back at the fruit in her hand and wasted no time in peeling back some of the skin to expose the juicy flesh inside. Once she had got a good area exposed, she brought it to her mouth and took a big bite. Her teeth hardly put any pressure on the fruit and they easily bit off a chunk of the soft fruit. She felt some of the juice dribble down her chin as she moved to chew. The taste overwhelmed her.

"This is…this…this is gorgeous!" She said in between chewing. "Weird but gorgeous! It tastes like…I dunno… strawberries with banana mixed in."

The Doctor meanwhile had finished his piece of fruit and had thrown the purple skins into some nearby bushes. Donna continued to eat the alien Yoguma fruit as the Doctor strode back over to her.

"So, where do you fancy walking?" The Doctor asked his companion, as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Donna finished off a mouthful of Yoguma before answering. "I dunno, you're the Martian so you tell me!" She replied, taking the last bite out of her piece of fruit. The Doctor gave her one of his big childish grins.

"That's what I like about you Donna; you let the expert handle things." He said jokingly with a mock wink to go along with it.

"Sure, whatever you say Spaceman." Donna said, throwing the skins of the fruit in the bushes near her.

"Well then, if you're gonna leave it to me, we're going up there!" The Doctor announced as he pointed to what looked like a nearby mountain. It wasn't exactly big and looked more like a hill to Donna.

"If my memory is correct, that should be the South Mountain, which means Miss Noble, if we can get to the top by the time the second moon sets, we should get to see all the camps in the surrounding area light their night fires." The Doctor explained.

As soon as the Doctor had mentioned 'second moon', Donna had turned her attention directly and almost instinctively to the sky. And there they were, sitting in four random places, were four moons, each with their own distinct color and size.

Donna always loved this bit of the travelling. When Spaceman was off in one of his explaining babbles, Donna would catch small details of what he says that she hadn't noticed about where they were or even when they were. It was always an exciting moment.

Then, she realised there was another strange detail that she had picked up on.

"Camps? What camps?" She asked, a little confused.

"Rydonia is inhabited by hundreds upon hundreds of different camps all over the planet. There can be as few as ten in each camp or as many as a hundred. To you, they probably would seem a little Native American in culture terms but they really have got a brilliant view on things, Donna. They have 'harvests' instead of months or years and genuinely believe that the four moons predict things such as whether they'll have a good harvest or a bad harvest."

"And is there any in this area?"

"Not a clue, they can live just about anywhere, can our Rydonian friends. Not really used to strangers, but it should be fine!" The Doctor stated.

Donna felt a bit uncomfortable at the thought of walking into a camp territory or these 'Rydonians' being dangerous. But, after all, she was with the Doctor. What could possible go wrong?

"Everything…" She said silently, not realizing that she had muttered it out loud.

"What?" The Doctor said, quickly turning his head to her.

But, then again, no matter how much danger they would ever get themselves into, she wouldn't miss it for the world.

"Nothing, Skinny Lord." She replied. The Doctor plastered another grin to his face and then held out his hand for Donna to take.

"Come on, better shift a leg." He said. Donna gave him a small smile and took his offered hand. They then excitedly set off towards the mountain.

From deeper within the forest, a pair of eyes were set on the two figures as they walked towards the South Mountain hand in hand. They studied the movements the two figures made before they both disappeared in amongst the trees.

**-x-**

***dramatic gasp* **

**Who could be watching them? You'll have to wait and see! Don't worry, won't be a long wait!**

**Don't forget to leave a review on your way out folks! :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry guys, I know there was a rather a big delay with this chapter, and I had planned to have it up a few days ago, (well, a week actually!) but - my dad has just undergone a major operation on his hip and is still needing nearly 24/7 care. But he is okay-ish now, and I managed to get a few golden hours with my laptop to finish this chapter, and couldn't leave you guys waiting any longer so here is Chapter 2! **

**Read, give it a review if you can, but most of all, enjoy it! **

**-x-**

**Chapter 2 **

Donna had calculated that she and the Doctor had been walking for about three quarters of an hour. They had reached the bottom of this 'South Mountain' about fifteen minutes ago and had begun their ascent to the top. Donna had to admit that the more she had walked, the more she realised how pretty this planet was. Every now and again they would pass a beautifully colored tree or a strange alien forest creature would pop out into the open from within the trees before scurrying back to where it came from.

They were at least half way up the mountain now. It wasn't exactly what Donna would call steep, so it wasn't that hard of a trek. She was a little out of breath, but with all the running she did with the Doctor, her body had become used to the physical endurance, so walks like these were never hard anymore. In a way, the travelling was doing her health the world of good.

The Doctor, being the big and strong almighty Time Lord, was a couple of feet in front of her and taking every stride as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

However, Donna noticed that he had become rather…quiet. He hadn't gone off on one of his babbles for about ten minutes, when normally, everything and anything they passed had something peculiar about it that he would feel the need to explain.

She decided it would be best to make sure he was okay.

"You alright, Spaceman?" She asked, eyeing the back of his brown sticky-up hair. At the sound of her voice, he turned around to face her and halted in his trek.

"Hm? Yeah, of course I'm alright, I'm always alright." He stated, spreading a small smile on his face. Donna, feeling better for knowing he was apparently okay, gave him a nod and a smile in return, before he then turned back to start up the mountain again, Donna following as close and as fast as she could.

The ground was becoming harder and less grass covered the mountain as they got closer and closer to the top. It eventually became a sea of rocks and with hardly any grass, just small tuffs of grass here and there, with little cliffs dotted all around.

Donna built up the courage to carefully walk over to one of the small cliffs and had a small peek over the edge. It wasn't amazingly high, but if you were to fall off one you would certainly not be okay as such.

Donna was caught off her little fascination when she heard a scraping noise behind her which was followed by a slight grunt. She turned to see the Doctor who had nearly fallen flat on his stomach when his converse hadn't grasped a patch of stones and grass properly.

"Careful Donna." The Doctor warned her as he regained his footing and continued walking.

After about five minutes of more walking, the pair finally reached the top. The Doctor reached the top a few seconds before Donna, and turned to face her with a grin on his face, watching her complete the last few steps.

"Donna Noble, may I present to you, Rydonia – In all its glory!" He said, spreading out his arms.

Donna noticed strangely, before she looked at the view, that the Doctor had a slight pale color plastered all over his face and he had winced slightly when he had out-stretched his arms. But she was sure it was probably just from the walk, and turned to look at the view he wanted her to see so badly.

When her eyes caught site, Donna's breath caught in her throat.

The forest stretched out for hundreds upon hundreds of miles. There were waterfalls and lakes and streams, all glistening with pure clear water that lit up the trees. It all looked so natural and calm. The sun was just starting to go down, and the second moon the Doctor had mentioned before was following it slowly. They looked like they were almost in sync with each other. Donna stood there for a few minutes, totally entranced by the beauty of the view. It looked like something out of a blockbuster film that had made billions.

Then, Donna noticed something sticking out in an area of shorter trees quite far away, but was close enough to be seen with the naked eye. It looked like some kind of large sandy colored tent, with markings dotted all over its cover. And around the bigger tent, were smaller tents that had the same markings covering them.

"Is that one of those camps?" Donna asked, pointing to the object she had spotted.

The Doctor walked a few steps in front of her whilst reaching into his bottom left coat pocket, picking out his black rimmed glasses. He opened them and carefully perched them on the end of his nose, focusing on the part of the humongous forest Donna was pointing at.

"Ah, it certainly is." He confirmed. "Looks to me, like the…"

Before the Doctor could finish his answer, there was suddenly a high pitched cry that hit the two time travelers' ears with surprise. The Doctors head shot up like a deer that had heard it's predator pounce. His superior hearing had pin-pointed the location of the scream within seconds and almost instantly, he began to descend in the direction that the cry had come from. Down the mountain in front of them.

Donna wasted no time in following the Time Lord, the feeling of danger along with excitement beginning to flood into her veins.

The Doctor, being the long and gangly thing that he was, was finding it easy to descend down the rocky and grass covered ground towards the bottom of the mountain.

Instead of it being clear like the other side, this side of the mountain was plastered in trees that led into the deep green forest they had gotten such a good view of from the top.

However, as the Doctor progressed, he suddenly felt his head was starting to feel a little…strange. The Time Lord slowed his pace down slightly, the strange sensation overwhelming his head within seconds of him noticing it. Eventually, his vision began to blur.

With his mind strongly set on the growing head problems, the Doctor forgot to look where he was going. A big mistake when you're jogging down a hill.

His right foot caught a slightly large rock that was peeking out from the ground, rooted into place. He instantly tumbled head first towards the ground, putting his arms out instinctively to stop himself. But he didn't stop. Instead, he collided with the ground, letting out a cry of pain as his right wrist hit the ground awkwardly and his face scrapped along the small sharp stones that were covering the mountain side. He then proceeded to continue by doing a roly-poly and crashing onto his back, before he finally skidded to a stop.

Donna had watched the incident happen from a little bit further up the mountain and she instinctively cried out to him.

"Doctor!" She cried, picking up speed as she clambered down the mountain towards the fallen alien.

When she eventually reached him, she noticed he was still conscious, but was groaning an awful lot, holding his hurt right wrist to his chest. She knelt down beside him and put one hand under his head and the other placed onto his chest for comfort.

His face was covered in tiny scratches in the area he had scraped it along the ground, and his suit was covered with dust.

"Spaceman?" She asked him quietly, trying to encourage him to make some movement. He groaned a little louder in response and opened his eyes slightly to look at her.

"Oh God…" He muttered, placing his free hand to his forehead and covering his eyes. "My head…"

"No wonder your heads sore, you muppet, you just fell halfway down a flippin' mountain!" She told him. "I know your all 'Time Lordy' and stuff, but you need to watch where you're going next time your trekking down a hill, sunshine."

"No, no, no…" He repeated a few times, whilst Donna helped him into a sitting position. "It's not…because of the fall…my head…it's on the insid-"

Then, without the slightest bit of warning, they were interrupted.

"You will both stand!"

Donna's eyes, along with the Doctors, widened at the sound of the extra voice. It was a stern male voice that imposed authority, even after the words had been long gone and they held in the air for a few seconds.

Donna turned her head around to face the stranger's voice, keeping one hand behind the Doctors head, and the Doctor also looked to face the voice, still with one hand on his forehead.

When the two time travelers got there first view of the owner of the voice, it was obvious they were in the presence of the natives to the planet, Rydonians.

There in front of them, was a pack of at least twenty to thirty human figures. All the figures appeared to be male, apart from one female figure, who was placed to the side of the group and was being comforted by one of the younger males. The woman looked like she had been viscously crying.

The most dominant and obviously the one who had asked them to stand, was placed a few feet ahead of the rest of his group, with an old looking stick with a sharp rock, tied onto the end of it with what could only be described as green string.

In appearance, all the figures had soft dark skin, and were wearing delicately decorated clothes, which mainly consisted of long robes draped over all the males' shoulders, with feathers and claws patterned distinctively all over the clothing. The dominant male figure also wore what appeared to be a bracelet that had a sharp deep black claw hanging loosely on the hand he was holding his weapon with.

"You will both stand!" The leader repeated, shaking his stick closer towards the Doctor and Donna.

Donna looked at the Doctor for guidance, as the male became more threatening towards them. The Doctor still felt the increasing fuzziness and pain within his head, but there was too much going on to care about his head.

He held onto Donna's shoulder and the pair of them eventually managed to get the Doctor to his feet, and then stand to face the large group of Rydonians. The right side of his face had little dots of blood splattered all over it where he had tiny little cuts from skidding along the ground.

"Hello," The Doctor said the best he could. "I'm…the Doctor. Yes, I'm the Doctor and this is Donna." He made a gesture towards Donna with his head since he wasn't able to make a gesture with his hands due to his wrist that was still clutched towards his chest.

The male of the leader looked the Doctor up and down with his pale blue eyes that stood out of his dark skinned face. Strangely to Donna, instead of gesturing to his group to attack them and the two time travelers eventually running for their lives, he straightened his position and lowered his apparent weapon. He turned to face his followers behind him, raising his right arm and then lowering it slowly. As soon as their leader made the gesture, the other males with weapons lowered what they had and also straightened their posture into something less threatening. The dominant male then turned back to face the Doctor and Donna.

"Me and my camp are sorry for scaring you," The leader began and slowly started walking towards the Doctor and Donna. "I am Ku'ta, the alpha of this pack; we were out searching when we spotted you here on the South Mountain."

"Searching for what?" Donna asked.

"Rukia's daughter." Ku'ta replied simply, pointing to the woman who was by the side of pack. The one who had looked like she had been crying and certainly upset over something.

"Why? What's happened?" The Doctor asked. Donna could feel from standing so close to him that, occasionally, he would sway slightly like someone who was nearing becoming drunk.

"The beast took her; claimed her for his own. The scream you heard, that was her. We were on her track, but we lost her as easy as losing a mountain cat." Ku'ta replied.

The Doctor seemed to have only picked up on one word. "Beast? What beast?"

Suddenly, from down the mountain and into the forest, the same cry spread into the air. The group of Rydonians all seemed to instantly turn to defensive mode and the mother of this child began to weep into the arms of the young man.

"It is taking her!" She cried, her arms shaking in fear and sorrow. "It is claiming her!"

The Doctor, ignoring his blurry head and injured wrist, rushed past Ku'ta and straight through the group of Rydonians towards the forest again.

"Follow him!" Ku'ta roared, raising his stick into the direction the Doctor had rushed off. Promptly, the Rydonians followed their alphas orders and began to shadow the Time Lord down the hill.

Ku'ta turned to face Donna, who hadn't had a quick enough reaction to follow the Doctor.

"Come, Donna." Ku'ta said to her, in a too calm of a voice for the situation, but a look of strange seriousness on his dark featured face that made Donna almost immediately trust him. "No one must be left alone."

"There's no way your leaving me alone here, mate!" Donna exclaimed, as the two rushed off to follow the cry of terror.

From the front of the pack, the Doctor was using his sensitive hearing to try and track the direction of the scream. By what little Ku'ta had explained to them, it was easy to tell that this 'beast' was not tranquil to track.

As the Time Lord and the pack of Rydonians entered the trees, the atmosphere suddenly became very tense and subdued. There were no signs of any animals in the area, and also, no sign of any little girl.

"Christia!" Her mother shouted, which was most likely her daughter's name. "Christia!"

But there was no sign of a reply. In fact, there was no sign of anything at all. Apart from the trees and faint breeze between the forest. Nothing.

The Doctor slowed his pace down to a complete stop, letting the pack of angry and worried hunters catch up and stop behind him. Not far behind them, came Ku'ta and Donna.

"Do you mind running off like that, Spaceman?" Donna exclaimed, putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

Ku'ta glanced around the area they had stopped in, slowly walking towards the Doctor.

"Silence. That's how it wants it. It will be watching us…right now."

As soon as Ku'ta finished his warning, everyone seemed to tense slightly. Donna straightened up and looked around her. The Rydonians also went into a higher state of alert.

"Doctor?" Donna muttered, fear now plain in her voice.

The Doctor, however, was not feeling too good. Not even enough to reply to his best friend.

His head seemed to be getting worse as every second ticked by, and having being in the situation he was in, it was ticking away trying to answer a million and one questions. His wrist was beginning to heal, but his head was showing no sign of getting any better. And the most awful part for him was, he didn't even know what was wrong with him.

Deciding that the best thing to do was consult with Donna about the situation they had been suddenly plunged into, he tried not to show his pain in front her and turned to go and comfort Donna.

But, as he turned to face Donna and the group, something caught his keen Time Lord vision. Even though his vision wasn't working at its full potential with his sore head, it wasn't hard to spot the large red eyes that were gleaming out of a large green bush.

The Doctor knew the look in the creature's gleaming red eyes. It was one ready to pounce. And its closest target?

Donna.

**-x-**

**I know it isn't MAJOR Whump, but at least it's a start, huh? Huh? **

**Don't forget to leave a review on the way out folks, and thanks for reading! :) **


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey all you awesome people! **

**I really am incredibly sorry for the long delay with this; my dad hasn't been very well so most of my time has been devoted to either him or homework. But, he's on the road to recovery now so I can get back to the story! *jumps up and down in joy* **

**I also feel really bad that I haven't said thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed and put this story in their favorites', you honestly all get me through the day smiling! So thank you so much for that! I would especially like to thank Rizacauf for the reviews she left on my stories, I read all of them and it really has boosted my confidence, so thank you for that! **

**Well, here's chapter 3 – WITH A BIT OF MORE PROMISED WHUMPAGE! **

**Please read and give a review if you can, but most of all, enjoy it folks!**

**-x-**

The Doctor didn't give himself a chance to consider his next action. The moment he seen the blood thirst in the mysterious creatures dark red eyes, he sent the signal from his brain to his legs to sprint towards his companion.

"Donna!" The Doctor shouted out of instinct, "Get down!"

Ku'ta's head spun round at lightning speed at the Doctor's sudden cry, as did the rest of the pack. Donna's face turned to fear as she obeyed the Doctor's command and instantly crouched down. She had been travelling with the Doctor for long enough now to know that if he told her to do something, she did it.

But the creature still obviously didn't want to hesitate. The Doctor suddenly saw its eyes move from Donna, straight onto him.

And, just like that, the creature pounced quickly and gracefully from behind the bush, reviling itself to everyone that was present. Donna had been so shocked by the monsters sudden appearance that she had been flung backwards from her crouching position and crashed to the ground.

The creature was huge and almost 'bear like 'in shape. Its red eyes sat on a head that could only be described as terrifying. Its fangs were as long as small knives, along with the gleaming three claws that were positioned on the end of each limb. Its body was muscular, and was covered in tattered black fur and white markings that were patterned down its two front legs and its back ones. Its tail was more lizard like, stretching a few meters behind its body as it flew through the air.

The Doctor would have reacted. He COULD have reacted. But his pounding head stopped him from responding, the heaviness still overwhelming him. So, he hadn't been fast enough.

He was knocked flying towards the ground at tremendous speed as the creature flew into him. Its two front arms hit his stomach and his left shoulder and a scream of shock and pain erupted from his mouth as the air was quickly knocked out of him. When he crashed to the ground, he felt something crack from under the left side of his body where the huge alien was now pinning him down. He couldn't hold back a shriek of pain when he realised it was one his ribs.

"Doctor!" Donna cried, watching without being able to do anything as her best friend lay under the creature, completely helpless. "Doctor!"

"Men! Throw your weapons! Kill it now!" Ku'ta shouted at his pack. The woman in the pack screamed in fear as the Rydonians screamed a chant of anger and panic, running forward to attack.

The creature ignored the Rydonians that were about to attack it. Instead, it was looking directly into the Time Lords eyes, attempting to almost concentrate.

The Doctors hearts thumped in his chest as the creature moved its face closer to his. He could feel the warm breath flowing over his face. Why was it not tearing him too shreds? It had him pinned to the floor, injured and vulnerable, so why was it hesitating.

_Time Lord._

Unpredictably along with the pain that was already there, The Doctor's head screamed at him as he heard the words cry in his mind. He tried to speak, but the discomfort in his mind was too strong for him to respond. The pain from his broken rib wasn't helping either.

_Time…Lord. Innocent. _

The words erupted around his mind for the second time. The creature was communicating with him.

However, before the creature could attempt again, it let out a blood-curling scream, along with falling off the Time Lord onto the ground next to him. The Doctor could see a stick of wood with a sharpened stone stuck to the end of it pierced into the shoulder of the creatures black fur. Yellow blood began to seep from the wound.

"Get it!" The Doctor heard Ku'ta yell, followed by the angry cries of a few Rydonians who ran forwards towards the Doctor and the creature.

The Doctor's vision was begging to blur and his surroundings where becoming less and less vivid. With great effort, he turned his head towards the creature. It was getting to its feet as quickly as it could manage probably about to try and make an escape.

_Find me again, Time Lord. _

The Doctor wailed again as the sentence rushed around inside of his head and mind. The creature let out a grunt as it turned and, in obvious pain, quickly limped away into the trees as fast as it could muster. A couple of Rydonians rushed past the Doctor, their weapons held high as they gave chase.

The last thing the Doctor saw was Donna crouched beside him crying his name with her hands on his head and shoulder, before his world was confined to darkness.

-x-

The first thing the Doctor noticed when he started to regain his vision, was that his head was still sore. It wasn't as bad as it had been, but it was still there.

He tried to open his eyes more, his sight slowly coming round to normal. He noticed he was no longer deep in the jungle, but lying down on soft white fur inside a rather spacious tent. He was laid out in the middle of its brown walls, no other objects present, and there was no one else there with him.

When he had fully regained his sight, he attempted to slowly sit up. That's when he was reminded of his broken rib. He grunted slightly when a wave of pain shot up his side as he moved to try and sit up. He gritted his teeth and managed to get himself perched on his elbows. When he caught sight of his chest, he was surprised to find that his blue suit jacket had been removed, along with his tie, and his shirt was unbuttoned to reveal a set of bandages that were professionally crafted from some of plant, wrapped around the area of the broken rib.

Then, from in front of him, the flaps of the tent door were pushed apart to reveal Donna. When she realised that he was awake, she gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh Spaceman, you really gave me a scare y'know!" She exclaimed, entering the tent. "That thing nearly killed you,"

"How…how long have I been out?" The Doctor asked.

"At least two hours, it's night now."

The Doctor was about to reply, but he instead got another rush of pain take over his broken rib, and he grunted once again. Donna was by his side in a second.

"Come on Spaceman, Ku'ta said the sooner you sit up the better. I know it hurts but I'll help." Donna told him, helping the Time Lord raise the top half of his body into a sitting position. He managed to control his pained expressions as he finally was able to sit up by himself.

"Blimey, I haven't broken one of my ribs in donkeys." The Doctor mentioned to his companion as he turned to face her soft expression. "Thank you, Donna."

She smiled at him. "Hey don't thank me, it's Ku'ta and his men you need to be thanking, Spaceman. After you passed out, most of the men had run of chasing that big thing, and the rest of them carried you back here and did all this." She explained to him, pointing to his bandaged chest. "Ku'ta said this is one of the healing tents or something, and you can happily stay here for as long as you like. He really is lovely; he kept reassuring me you were going to be fine since I was panicking that much."

The Doctor gave a small chuckle, but then his expression turned to that of wonder.

"Where is Ku'ta? I think I need to have a good long talk with him. There's something he doesn't know about that creature."

"What is it?" Donna asked him curiously.

"It spoke to me, Donna, it got inside my head, and I think that's why my head was hurting so badly. It has high telepathic communication, and well, with me being a Time Lord, it was able to speak to me."

"But, why would it want to speak to you?"

"I'm not one hundred percent. But, something's telling me that our Rydonian friends are being misled."

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, that's why I need to speak to Ku'ta; I need the full picture of these missing children and this creature. I think there's something wrong here."

Donna saw the intent and curiosity in the old Time Lords eyes, as he turned to face her once again.

"God this is embarrassing, but could you help me up?" The Doctor asked with a look of slight humiliation spread on his face at his request.

"Oh shut up, you prawn! You have a broken rib; of course I can help you up!" Donna barked at him.

The Doctor put his right arm around Donna's neck. That was when he caught a glimpse of his wrist. That was also encased in a few bandages. He'd nearly forgotten about falling down the hill.

"I feel so danger prone right now." He muttered, as he slowly started to get to his feet. His broken rib protested, but he held firm. Eventually, with the help of Donna, he was standing on his feet and was managing to stay up right, his unbuttoned shirt hanging from his shoulders.

"Right, take me to the leader." The Doctor requested, holding tightly onto his best friend. Donna made sure she had a secure grip of the Doctors waist, not daring to go too close to his ribs.

"Y'know, whilst you're speaking to Ku'ta, I'm gonna go and look for some sort of Rydonian cook so they can make you something to eat and fatten you up, you skinny twig."

The Doctor just smiled at Donna's remark, as they made their way out of the tent to find Ku'ta.

**-x-**

**So, there you go, a bit of whumpage that hopefully should have satisfied your whumpage pleasure. But don't worry, there is a lot more whump to come - I won't let the Doctor walk away from this story with just a broken rib. The whump will come within a few more chapters so don't stray too far away!**

**The next chapter will be Ku'ta doing a bit of well-earned explaining, along with some more mystery! So please, stick around and review if you can! **

**Keep smiling folks! :) **


	5. Author's Note

Hey everyone, if you could please take your time to read this, I would really appreciate it.

I know I've been away for quite a while. And I think you guys deserve to know why I just disappeared all of a sudden and haven't continued with my stories.

About a week after I posted the last chapter, a very close friend of mine was killed in a motorbike accident. His name was Paul, and he was honestly like a second brother to me. I didn't know what to do with myself at first and just sat for hours crying about it. He was only 32.

After a few days had passed, I just had no motivation to continue writing. Every time I tried, the direction I would go in with the writing just wouldn't feel right to me, and I continuously deleted things that I had written. In the past two months, my confidence has grown again, but it's just taken so long for me to be able to sit down and continue writing my stories.

I still haven't gotten over Paul's death, and probably never will. When someone is taken away from you like Paul was to me, you realise just how fragile life is. But it is only natural and just part of being human.

So I think I'm back for good now guys, and I am really sorry for just abandoning this. I've decided that I want to rewrite a few chapters for this story, and probably rewrite some of my other stories too. Just so it feels like a fresh start. I'm also going to plan out lots of my future stories, just so I never have nothing to write about, because honestly, writing is my passion.

I hope you all will forgive me for this, I should be updating this story in the next few weeks and eventually, everything will be back to normal.

Thank you for reading!

**R.I.P Paul, I love you bro, and always will****! ****3 **


	6. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, sorry to keep you all waiting, but I've finally managed to start writing again! And let me tell you, it's good to be back! :) **

**I've changed what I wanted to do with Chapters 4 and 5 of this story and, instead of having them separate, I've kind of mingled them together just because I think it 'flowed' better, so sorry it's not ALL brand new, but the real chapter 5 isn't far behind!**

**Please don't be hesitant to leave a little review at the end, but just enjoy reading it! **

**-x-**

The Doctor and Donna were wandering around in an almost helpless manner as they continued their curious search for Ku'ta in the Rydonian camp they had ended up in. Donna still had to support the Doctor carefully around his waist as they searched since his condition was still rather weak. Every now and again he would give a little grunt of discomfort, but would continue on his way.

"Blimey, this place is bigger than I expected." The Doctor commented, glancing around the Rydonian setting.

There were tents dotted everywhere for a good twenty or thirty acres of land. The tents were all different shapes and sizes, but were mostly colored brown with detailed red patterns covering the material that draped into the green grass and dry mud that covered the ground. Rydonians were wandering around their camp, minding their own business as the two time travelers sought for the leader. From within the center of the camp, a huge fire was lit, crackling and lighting the majority of the area with its shear brightness. Some of the inhabitants were sat around it on old tree trunks, talking away quietly to each other.

"It seems so peaceful." Donna stated. "Too peaceful if you ask me, especially with that big thing running around out there somewhere."

As the Doctor and Donna rounded a corner of tents, they came face to face with a tent that was slightly larger than the ones that were surrounding it. Instead of a brown material, it was covered in a silky white material that was dotted with light brown markings that looked like wild animals and different types of plants.

"Well, this looks like an important tent." The Doctor noted, turning his gaze from the tent to face his companion. Donna looked up at the Time Lord, and with a consecutive nod of both their heads, they both headed towards the larger tent.

When they reached the two drapes of material that was the entrance, Donna reached out a hand and softly pushed one of the flaps out of her and the Doctor's way so they could pear inside.

The inside of this tent held much more than just a plain design. There was soft fur covering the ground, with a wooden bed and a wooden table placed next to each other on the right side. On the left side was a huge tree trunk that was being used as a seating perch. The Doctor and Donna both felt a sense of accomplishment when they realised it was Ku'ta sitting upon it.

Ku'ta must have heard the pair at the tent entrance first, as he was the first one to propose a greeting. "Hello there Donna, Doctor, please enter." He spoke, gesturing for them to enter.

The Doctor carefully stepped forward first with Donna close in tow.

"Ku'ta, I need to speak with you." The Doctor stated. He was no longer using his companion for support, but Donna still stood close to his side. "I need to know more about what's been happening here."

Ku'ta steadily rose to his feet from his sitting position on the trunk and made his way over to the Doctor.

"There is an awful lot to explain." Ku'ta remarked. "Things no longer make sense and we are always having to be swift on our feet, Doctor."

Donna remembered the observation she had made earlier and perked up to contribute to the conversation. "But, when we were looking for you, everyone seemed, I dunno, just at ease?"

"We try not to let it bother us, but it is hard not to let the emotion come through. Especially with five of our own now missing."

"Is that the children?" The Doctor confirmed. Ku'ta nodded sadly.

"It is true, many mothers fear for the safety of their young within this camp." Ku'ta noted. He then swiftly maneuvered past the Doctor and Donna to the tent entrance, pulling back one of the flaps.

"Come Doctor, Donna. We shall discuss by the fire where it is warm. I have much to tell you."

-x-

The Doctor and Donna were now seated on one of the logs that were placed around the huge fire they had spotted earlier while searching for Ku'ta. There were families of Rydonians dotted round it, seated on the logs whilst carefully watching their children, or quietly talking to each other.

Donna noticed that the woman who had been with the pack out in the woods was seated with someone who looked like her husband or partner. They were the only ones who were silent, staring blankly into the roaring fire, holding one another for support. There was a look of plain sorrow plastered on both of their faces.

Ku'ta placed himself down on the log next to the Doctor, looking around at the surrounding occupants as he did so. Once he was comfortable, he turned his attention back to the two time travelers who, especially the Doctor, looked eager to finally get the full story.

"It all started two harvests ago, on a day that was as plain as any other." Ku'ta started, but it didn't take long for a question to be asked.

"Erm, sorry, but what's a harvest?" Donna questioned from beside the Doctor.

"It is our thirty day passing of the sun, lady Donna." Ku'ta answered.

The Doctor turned to face Donna, since he knew sometimes his companions still wouldn't understand what was being explained to them. "It's basically like a month on Earth." He stated, rubbing his sore wrist waiting for her response. Donna nodded when she finally realised, and then let Ku'ta continue with his story.

"A child went missing at around mid-day. Nobody knew where the child had gone, until we heard a terrifying scream coming from inside the forest. It was the child's scream, but when we got there-"

"There was no child." The Doctor interrupted, with a deep concern in his tone. Ku'ta slowly nodded.

"No, there was no sign. Not even a trace. The last thing we knew of that child, was the scream it had left, hanging in the air."

Around the huge blaring fire, it seemed like everyone present had become quiet and timid, listening in on the memories Ku'ta was telling the two time-travelers.

"The next time it happened, it was the same again. We all heard the frightened scream of five year old, Tuj'ie. But this time, one of my men saw something when we arrived at the place we had tracked the scream too. He described the most terrifying creature, one that I couldn't picture in my mind. Something that sounded so terrible, that it put the fear straight into my camps heart."

"But, why children?" Donna asked.

"We don't know, but what we do know is, that it is pure evil at work. It must have a soul of blackness that denies it any kindness."

The Doctor felt a hand connect with his, and he noticed that it was Donna placing her hand in his. He looked to see if she was okay and, to him, she seemed to have a look of terror on her face, like a child that had just woken up from a nightmare. He gave her a reassuring smile, griping her hand tightly, before turning his attention back to the alpha.

"We thought that it was maybe a rouge mountain cat or just natural causes. But then it continued. The third case was little Montusa." Ku'ta sustained, but was then stopped by another voice from across the fire. It was a young man, who was sitting with his eyes possessed by the fire.

"My little sister." He confirmed. "She was my little sister, and she was taken away by the beast. She was a brave little thing, always wanting to come with me on the hunt. And the only thing we have left of her..." Before the man finished his sentence, he reached around from the back of the log he was sitting on, and pulled around a small brown bag that was full of the Yoguma fruit. "-is this."

He held it close to him, like it was the rarest gem someone could ever wish to find.

At this point, Ku'ta seemed to tense and his facial expression steadily turned to that of sorrow.

"Five children have gone missing altogether. The most recent one you seen today." Ku'ta said. The Doctor and Donna both looked up to the mother whose child it was who had disappeared. She didn't pay any attention to them, and instead, was encompassed by the roaring fire, like the young man with his little sister's bag and fruit.

"And, you reckon that whatever's doing this was the creature we ran into earlier?" The Doctor asked Ku'ta.

"We know it is, Doctor. We have only come into contact with it twice. The first time was when we chased it away from the scene where the fourth child had left us, and the second was today. Unfortunately, we lost it. My men returned with no trace. The wound it had sustained left no blood. "

The Doctor was used to telling people what he thought about situations. Being as old as he was, he had lots of experience explaining things. This version of him in particular was a very talkative one. But, this was one of the first times, where he felt like he couldn't express himself properly. How could he tell these people that the creature, which was the only thing that they had a lead on with the disappearing children, was perhaps not behind their children going missing?

The Doctor sighed heavily, looking Ku'ta straight into his deep eyes. "Look, Ku'ta," The Doctor started, hesitating a bit, before he finally got around to saying what he wanted to say. "– I don't think that this creature is the one behind the children going missing."

Ku'ta looked at the Doctor with a mixture of confusion and denial. The suggestion from the Time Lord did not seem to be popular. Some of the Rydonians who had been quietly talking nearby had seemed to have gone quiet when they had heard the Doctor's suggestion.

"Doctor, how can you suggest such an idea?" Ku'ta interrogated. "The only thing that we can blame for these innocent children's deaths is that creature, and if you are denying that, then there is no hope for us."

"Look Ku'ta, if you want answers, then I suggest that you don't go pointing fingers just yet." The Doctor explained, trying to choose his wording carefully in order to not upset the peace. "I just, well, I just believe that there may be something more behind these children's disappearances."

"But the creature today Doctor, it attacked you. How can you not see the evil that-"

"Because it spoke to me." The Doctor said clearly. He had been hesitant to reveal to Ku'ta that the creature had spoken to him through his mind, but eventually decided that it may help to loosen the blame a little. Either that or it would make Ku'ta believe the Doctor was some sort of evil creature himself.

"The creature…spoke to you through your mind." Ku'ta said, with a hint of fascination in his tone of voice.

"Yes." The Doctor replied. "That's where my headache came from. The creature was trying to build up a psychic link between itself and me, because it wanted to grab my attention."

"Blimey, must have been some strong psychic link to make you fall down that hill." Donna inputted.

"Well, this is the thing. It was trying to get in contact with me with that strongly, because it was scared."

"Scared?" Ku'ta questioned.

"Maybe so. Since I was a telepathic link, it was able to talk to me. And since it was able to talk to me, it wants to see me again. And we have to give it a chance, Ku'ta."

Ku'ta sighed heavily as the Doctor's suggestion processed through his mind. The alpha turned his head towards the roaring fire and his people. His people who looked so afraid and vulnerable. And after a few seconds of silence, Ku'ta turned towards the Doctor again and looked him straight in the eye.

"What do you suggest, Doctor?"

The Doctor had expected more of a fight from Ku'ta and was rather surprised when he agreed to give the creature a chance. But the Doctor knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"I'll find it and talk to it again. All I need to do is hunt for a headache and I'll know it's near. This way hopefully, we can its perspective on the children's disappearances, and also find out if it really is to blame."

"Very well Doctor." Ku'ta agreed. "If you believe that it will help is step closer to the truth, then we will follow in your actions."

Ku'ta gave the Doctor a small nod of his head, before he rose from the log he was sitting.

"It would be unwise to try and find the creature in your condition at this very moment, Doctor. I suggest that you two get some rest. I'll have two of my men get another tent set up for you, lady Donna." Ku'ta explained. "We shall place it next to the Doctor's tent."

"Thank you." Donna said with a small smile on her face. Ku'ta returned the smile, and bowed his head once more.

"I bid you good night." He said, before he turned and walked away.

Donna watched the alpha walk over to two Rydonian males who were stood next to the nearest tent. He spoke to them briefly, before they both bowed and disappeared from view.

"Well, I haven't been camping since I was 6, so this should be fun." Donna stated, turning to look at the Doctor who, when she saw, seemed to be hypnotized by the roaring fire, his spikey hair glowing from the yellow and orange light. "You okay, Spaceman?" She asked the Time Lord. She also realised that she hadn't let go of his hand since she had slipped it into his a while ago.

"Yeah." The Doctor replied. "I'm always okay." He smiled slightly to reassure her.

"How's the rib? And the wrist for that matter."

"Fine, all I need is another quick rest, and I'll be ready to go and find our creature by tomorrow morning."

"Well, I'll be coming too. I'm not having you go all the way out into that wood by yourself. You may be alien, but if you had another fall like the one you had today, you might knock yourself out."

For once, the Doctor didn't reply back with 'I'll be fine by myself' or 'No you're not coming, it's too dangerous'.

Instead, he gave her a grin.

"That's what I like about you Donna Noble. Always determined and never put off. Not even by the fact that there's a creature the size of a bear wanting me to go and find it and perhaps potentially kill me."

"Oh shut up you, y'know I'd have the camera out."

"Oi!" The Doctor humorously exclaimed. They both laughed for a few moments, before Donna gave out a tired yawn.

"Them two blokes better have my tent ready, or they'll have a very tired me to answer to." Donna jokingly stated. The Doctor chuckled in response.

"Come on then, let's go find out." The Doctor said, starting to rise from the log. He suddenly gave a slight hiss between his teeth and had to instantly sit back down.

"Oh, it's taking a while to heal this." He grunted, rubbing his sore rib. Donna put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Spaceman, I'll help you."

**-x-**

**Watch out for the next chapter soon guys!**


	7. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, here's Chapter 5! Sorry about the delay, my laptop got poorly, but my friend's dad happens to be an expert in fixing computers so I think I was very lucky that he managed to save all my files!**

**I'm going away for a few days, but, (yet again, thanks to my friend's dad!) I can take this with me and hopefully get the next chapter for 'Love Handles' written and published. **

**Please read, review, but most of all enjoy!**

**-x-**

After the confrontation around the fire, the Doctor and Donna had made their way to their tents to get some well-earned rest. Donna had helped the Doctor into his tent, before she made her way to her own freshly made tent to get some sleep.

A few hours before sunrise, the Doctor had awoken from his slumber. The Time Lord had only needed a couple more hours sleep before he felt better. His broken rib was repairing itself well and his wrist was almost completely back to normal.

He had decided before he had fallen asleep that it probably would be safer if he went into the Rydonian forests alone, as he had become aware that there might be something more dangerous than just a big fuzzy haired creature roaming around, and at the bottom of it all, he just didn't want Donna to get hurt.

He sat up from his blanket of fur, and stretched out his limbs to rid of the stiffness. He found his suit jacket and his coat next to the opening of the tent and carefully put them on, trying not to move too quickly as his rib still wasn't completely healed and was still rather sore.

After he checked to make sure his trustworthy sonic screwdriver was still in his pocket, he poked his head outside of his tents entrance to check for anyone who might be wandering around. There was no sign of any life, apart from the small night insects and a few birds making noises. There was still a small light coming from fire that was now slowly fading away and every tent was silent. When he finalized that there was definitely no one around, the Time Lord silently made a swift exit from his tent.

"Blimey, I feel like a teenager sneaking off in the middle of the night to meet my girlfriend that my parents don't approve of." The Doctor mumbled to himself, as he set of towards the dark forest. The moons that were present in the sky were shining brightly over the green setting, but sunrise was soon approaching and the Doctor knew he only had, at the most, about an hour to find this mysterious creature and have a chat with it.

As he approached the tall trees that led into the forest, he was sure, for a split second, that he heard someone giggle.

He spun round, a little too fast for his ribs liking, to see where the noise had come from. His sensitive Time Lord eyes scanned the camp, checking every nook and cranny of every tent, and every blade of grass to see if he could spot anything. After a few seconds, he concluded it was just his imagination, and resumed entering the forest.

As the Doctor disappeared from view, a figure appeared from behind the tent closest to the forest. The figure giggled, before running into the forest in the same direction as the Doctor.

-x-

The Doctor had been wandering around inside the dark forest for about ten minutes before he finally felt a little tingle of pressure in the back of his brain.

"Gotcha..." He mumbled, as he tried to pinpoint the direction he reckoned the creature would be in. The psychic link seemed to be growing the more he continued north, so he trekked forward, going through bushes and over fallen trees in order to not break the connection between him and the creature.

After a good few minutes of following the link, his head began to pound like it had when they first arrived. He hadn't wanted to say anything to Donna when they were walking up the mountain as he hadn't wanted to worry her. The closer they had got to the top, the worse it had gotten, and by the time they had heard the scream, he had felt like he was going to pass out.

The Doctor winced slightly when his vision began to blur and that was when he realized he was getting close.

As he pushed and prodded his way through another bush, he heard a very low and guttural growl emit from behind a very large tree. His head throbbed when he heard the growl and he knew in that moment that he had found the creature. He took a few tentative steps forward, and had to put one hand to his head as the pain was beginning to overwhelm him.

_Time Lord?_

The voice suddenly boomed in his head and he gave a slight yell of pain, falling to his knees on the bark and leaf covered ground. He squeezed his eyes shut as the voice emitted into his head again.

_Time Lord?_

"Ye-yes..." He groaned. "I-It's me."

From behind the tree in front of the Doctor, a dark and shadowy figure appeared slowly from behind the wide trunk. It was the mysterious creature, its tattered black fur reflecting the light from the moons in the sky. Its red eyes latched onto the weakened Time Lord.

_I apologize for the pain, Time Lord_. Its voice boomed through the Doctors mind as it stopped just a couple of feet in front of him. _One moment._

And as quickly as the pain had escalated through the Doctor's mind, it was suddenly vanishing.

_The only way I can let you find me is through the opening of my physic barriers, which are usually protected, so when a presence attempts to enter, my barriers naturally attack._

The Doctor shook his head as the pain finally disappeared completely.

"No bother." The Doctor replied, slowly getting back to his feet and brushing himself down.

_I think I also owe you an apology for attacking you. I was worried that if I didn't make myself known to you, you wouldn't have been __able to find me._

Now that the Doctor had no pain in his head, he could focus more on the creature's voice. It was defiantly a female, and the voice was rather soft and soothing.

"Don't worry about it." The Doctor stated. "I've had worse greetings than that in my lifetime."

The Doctor felt the creature chuckle lightly in his head. He was rather curious to find something out before he questioned the creature on the children.

"Can I quickly ask, how you figured out I would be able to pick up your psychic link?"

_I felt your presence in my mind, Time Lord. My mother used to tell me stories of your kind when I was just a cub. Time Lords would apparently visit Rydonia often._

The Doctor nodded. "So, who are you then?"

_My name is Sahara. _The creature, Sahara, told the Doctor. _I come from the species Z'ylokian's._

"No!" The Doctor replied, holding both his arms out in front of him in realisation. "Oh, why didn't I realise this earlier."

_Rydonia has been our home for centuries. There are not many of us left now,__ but we are spread out over the lands of Rydonia. Perhaps in our hundreds now._

"Of course. The natives won't know particularly of your existence, which could be the reason why they're blaming you for the disappearances of the children."

Sahara made a low growl from deep within her throat and proceeded to slowly sit down, her lizard like tail twitching at the tip.

_This is the main reason I called for your presence, Time Lord. I am becoming frightened._

The Doctor could feel the sadness and anger from Sahara cloud his mind. She lowered her head to look at the ground as her emotion grew stronger.

_I have no reason to want to take the Rydonian offspring. But yet, I am blamed. And I do not want to be blamed. This is my home too, Time Lord, and I cannot just ru__n away._

"I understand, Sahara. It must be difficult." The Doctor said in a sorrowful but warm tone. "Have you seen anything to do with the children, anything strange?"

_I am certain I witnessed one of the female children…being taken. _

The Doctor thought back to the native who had been holding his little sisters bag.

"What happened?" He asked Sahara curiously. This could be potential valuable information.

_I was out hunting the night that it happened. I had strayed too close to the camp and was just about to retreat. But I heard rustling from the bushes behind me and I spotted a young child, holding a lit torch. I watched, hidden from her view, as the child collected some fruit. But she spotted me, and she screamed. I was just about to run, when I saw something behind her. _

"What was it, Sahara?"

_I couldn't make it out. It was a tall and dark figure that loomed over the child. And before I even had chance to look away, the child disappeared. One second she had been present and then she was snatched away blindly into the night. I was so scared, Time Lord. And all I did was run. _

The Doctor could feel Sahara's intense self-disappointment. He took a few steps forward, reaching out his long arm and letting his lanky fingers stroke Sahara's shaggy black fur on top of her head. She seemed to like the Doctor's touch and let him continue gently comforting her.

"Sahara. Oh Sahara, you are just brilliant. It doesn't matter that you ran, we all run sometimes. You've just given me some information that could help me solve this mystery, and could also give me the chance to let you off with the natives."

_Thank you, Time Lord. _Sahara purred as the Doctor took his hand away from her head as she looked him in the eye. The first signs of light were starting to peak through the tree's and the two agreed that it would be best to depart.

_What will you do now? _

"Well…" The Doctor started. "What I do best I suppose. Help."

Sahara rose from her seated position on the ground and bowed her head gracefully.

_Thank you again, Time Lord. I am forever in your debt. If you ever need me, just call. I'll gladly come to your aid. _

The Doctor gave Sahara a small bow back and a warm smile. "Thank you, Sahara. And remember, keep yourself hidden for now. And keep safe."

_I will. _

With one last glance, Sahara shifted her body to the side and rushed off into the trees, pouncing endlessly until she finally fell from the Doctor's view.

"Well, best get back before Donna wakes up or she will kill me."

**-x-**

**Hope you liked it, watch out for the next chapter soon! **


	8. Chapter 6

**Hey all, sorry for the long wait! I'll be posting the next chapter to 'Love Handles' soon, but I felt this desperately needed the update! **

**Please read, review but most of all enjoy it!**

**-x-**

The Doctor pushed back another stray branch as he continued walking back towards the camp. He was slightly apprehensive about telling Ku'ta that their only lead for finding the missing children was in fact not behind the disappearances of the children and was actually, completely innocent. It meant that for now, the mystery was only going to deepen.

As the Doctor walked through yet another bush, he was convinced he heard a noise from behind him. It sounded like a giggle. The same giggle he had heard before he had left to find Sahara.

Quickly turning on his heals, he pushed the bush he had just walked through into two so he could peer through it. But nothing was behind it.

"Odd." The Doctor mumbled to himself. "I'm sure I heard someone gig-"

Suddenly, a blurred figure appeared from the bottom of the large green bush, pushing the Doctor backwards with immense force. It was so forceful that the Doctor was knocked to the ground. He landed on his back with a yelp as he felt his aggravated rib throb with the impact.

When he looked up to see what had attacked him, he saw nothing.

With a confused but pained expression and wanting to waste no time, the Doctor began to pick himself up from the floor, clutching his side where the rib had impacted with the floor.

However, just as he was about to stand to his full height, he was sent flying to the ground again when the blurred figure appeared from his left and knocked into his leg. The Doctor landed on his side this time, yelping once again.

Lying defenseless and without a clue of what was attacking him, the Doctor attempted to look all around him, searching for whatever the figure was.

As he turned his head to look behind him, he suddenly felt a tight grip attach itself to his throat. The shock forced him to squeeze his eyes closed, but he knew he had to look to see whatever it was that seemed to want him dead.

Opening his eyes, the Doctor got quite a surprise. A male child, around about nine or eight, was kneeling beside him, one of the child's hands wrapped around the Time Lords neck and the other holding what looked like a small rock knife. The child looked thin but full of energy with deep brown eyes that never seemed to leave the Doctor's.

Thankfully, the child was only small, and wasn't quite chocking the Doctor with his relatively small fingers wrapped around the fully grown Time Lords neck, but still had a rather strong grip which was enough to keep the Doctor firmly in his position on the ground.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" The child interrogated, bringing the small knife closer to the Doctor's face as he spoke.

"Well erm, hello to you too." The Doctor replied trying to sound cheery to make the child less forceful. However, he achieved rather the opposite as the child strengthened his grip on the Doctor's throat and brought the knife to the Doctor's cheek, digging it in ever so slightly. It wasn't sharp, but was still rather uncomfortable.

"I said, who are you and what are you doing here?!" The boy repeated with more anger present in his tone. The Doctor thought it best to perhaps tell the child what he wanted to know. The grip around his throat was actually beginning to hurt.

"Well, I'm-I'm the Doctor and erm, I'm here to help about the children disappearing." He told the child simply.

"Oh yeah, how to I know you're not lying, old man?!" The child stated, the blunt knife now pressing down harshly into the Doctor's check. The Doctor nearly scoffed at being called an old man, but at the minute, it was probably best not to say anything too stupid.

"Look at me, do I look like the type who would lie? If you don't believe me go and ask Ku'ta, he'll tell you-"

"Ku'ta?" The boy interrupted. "You know Ku'ta?"

"Well how else would I know his name?" The Doctor replied.

After that point, the child's expression seemed to change from intense anger to an almost embarrassed look within seconds. He immediately withdrew the knife from the Time Lord's cheek and took his hand away from his throat, standing up quickly as he did so.

"Thank you." The Doctor stated, a rush of relief spreading through him. Carefully sitting up, clutching his sore rib, he managed to slowly get to his feet. "You don't half know how to knock someone down don't you kid."

"Dallan!"

A voice called out from behind the child and the Doctor. The Doctor instantly recognised the voice as Ku'ta's.

"Dallan!"

With the second shout, the little boy instantly popped the knife into a little pouch he had on a belt he wore around his waist, and shot off towards where Ku'ta was calling from. The Doctor watched the child disappear through some bushes, instantly deciding to follow.

Once he past the bushes, he could see the camp in the distance. Ku'ta was standing nearby, watching the child pounce towards him. The Doctor stood and observed the pair, as Ku'ta seemed to give the child a stern talking to, before pointing towards the camp. The child seemed to obey straight away, walking in the direction Ku'ta was pointing, heading directly for the camp.

Ku'ta made sure the boy had reached the edge of the forest and was safely in the camp grounds, before he turned his attention to the Doctor who was still standing quietly near the bushes.

"Ah Doctor, I see you have become acquainted with my son." Ku'ta told the Doctor, who began rubbing his neck. The Doctor decided he would let 'Dallan' off with his little ambush, as there were more important things to discuss than a kid attacking him. Plus, it was rather embarrassing. A nine hundred year old Time Lord attacked by a child who probably wasn't even ten yet. Unheard off.

"Yes, yes I have. 'Acquainted' is a bit of a peaceful word though..." The Doctor said sheepishly.

"He's a very strong willed child, Doctor, but he's very scared." Ku'ta explained. He turned to look at his camp thoughtfully, then gestured for the Doctor to follow him as he began to walk. "Where have you been, if you do not mind me asking."

The Doctor positioned himself next to Ku'ta as they walked. "I thought it would be best if I went to talk to Sahara by myself without anyone knowing, I don't particularly think Sahara would have liked it if it had seemed like a set up."

"Sahara?" Ku'ta commented.

"Yes she's the beast that you've been blaming the children's disappearances on. And unfortunately Ku'ta, I have some rather bad news regarding that."

-x-

**More coming very soon! I promise! **


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey all, here's the next chapter! Oh, and I just want to say a massive thank you to all the lovely reviews I'm getting on this story. They always put a smile on my face and the feedback is what keeps me going, so really, thank you all so much! **

**Please read, review, but most of all enjoy!**

**-x-**

"Where the heck have you been, Martian boy!"

The Doctor winced slightly as he heard Donna's angry yell as him and Ku'ta entered the camp. She appeared from behind her tent, arms folded and her eye's burning with obvious annoyance. The Doctor put his arms up in physical defense and slowly approached her.

"Look Donna, before you say anything I-"

"I don't care what your excuse is!" Donna interrupted him without any hesitation. "You promised you wouldn't go out on your own, and look what you did!"

"Donna-"

"You went out, on your flippin' own!"

The Doctor stopped in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders. Usually, she probably would have batted them off, but her arms stayed stubbornly folded as she glared at the Time Lord, waiting for his explanation.

"Donna look, the only reason I went out on my own is because one; I didn't want you to get hurt, two, I had no idea what I was going to meet out there, and four...no...three, I know you like your sleep." The Doctor told her with as much of an honest face as he could conjure. Donna's face seemed to become less angry and she un-folded her arms slowly, letting out a sigh.

"I'm sorry." She apologised, which the Doctor knew was rare for Donna. "I was just worried about you, you muppet!" She lifted her right arm and gave him a soft smack on his shoulder. He pulled away both his arms from her shoulders, instantly rubbing at where Donna had hit.

"Ow!" He exclaimed. "Do I have some kind of 'attack me right now' sign stuck to my forehead at the moment?!"

"Doctor." Ku'ta interrupted from behind them, obviously growing impatient.

"Ah yes, sorry Ku'ta." The Doctor stated, forgetting he still had the duty of explaining Sahara's side of the story to him. Ku'ta wandered a few steps deeper into the camp, heading towards his tent. The Doctor turned to face Donna again.

"Come on, I've got some explaining to do."

-x-

Ku'ta was pacing backwards and forwards in the middle of his tent, his head supported by his left hand as he looked sorrowfully towards the fur that covered the ground. The Doctor was stood by the entrance, his arms folded, watching the Rydonian camp go about it's daily business as he let Ku'ta take in the information. Donna was perched on a wooden chair, watching the scene unfold.

"What am I going to tell them, Doctor?" Ku'ta interrogated. "The family's of the children who have disappeared, they only had this to believe in. Now, we have nothing."

"I know, I know." The Doctor said, a little annoyed. When he heard the silence from Ku'ta, he turned around to face the alpha, who had now stopped pacing backwards and forwards and had sat down in his bed.

"Look, I'm sorry that it hasn't turned out to what you expected it to be and trust me, I get that feeling a lot." The Doctor softly explained to Ku'ta. "But I promise you, I will find out who's or what is doing this and put a stop to it. Sahara has given me a few idea's on what I can do next, and I plan to get going straight away."

"What shall we do in the meantime, Doctor? We cannot let anymore children disappear and we cannot leave the camp in fear of another disappearance. Even my own men are scared, Doctor. We don't even know if it is just is, as contact with any other camp is forbidden in Rydonian terms."

"Why's that then?" Donna asked curiously.

"It's a territory thing." The Doctor turned and quickly told Donna. "I'll explain later."

"Help! Somebody, help me!"

The sound of a male Rydonian's pleas were enough to spring the Doctor to his feet, Ku'ta and Donna following close behind as the three ran out of Ku'ta's tent.

Outside, a man was running towards Ku'ta's tent with his arms flailing all over the place. The other Rydonian's stopped whatever tasks they were doing and drew their attention to their shouting brother. The Doctor immediately stopped the man in his tracks by grabbing both his arms and telling him to calm down.

"Shh, shh, it's alright, calm down." The Doctor told the man, as he continued to pant heavily with a terrified look on his face.

"Please you have to help me!" The man begged. When Donna get a closer look, she realised she recognised the man. Him and his wife had been sitting around the campfire the night previous. Donna remembered that he had lost his little girl.

"Okay, come on, tell me what's wrong." The Doctor calmly told the man as he let go of his arms. Immediately, the man pointed to the forest.

"I-I was with my wife, we-we were searching for our daughter when-when I separated from her and I couldn't find her, but-but then I heard her cries coming from deeper into the forest and-I didn't know what else to do-I just, I tried looking for her but I couldn't find her and she's still out there - you, you have to help me!"

The Doctor looked the man in the eye and then looked into the forest. "Come on, show me where!" He told the man. The terrified man instantly began running towards the forest again, past all the gathered Rydonian's who were clutching their children and loved ones tightly, fear plain in the air.

As Ku'ta rushed past to follow the man, telling his people not to worry, The Doctor outstretched his hand and signaled Donna to stay put.

"Stay here Donna, I think it-"

"No chance, Spaceman, I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not." Donna interrupted firmly, placing herself beside him, getting ready to follow him. The Doctor sighed heavily, and deciding he wasn't going to win, him, with Donna directly behind, set off running towards the forest.

**-x-**


	10. Chapter 9

**Here you go, Chapter 9! Things are about to get really interesting...**

**Please read, review, but most of all, enjoy!**

**-x-**

The Doctor was finding it hard to keep his running speed at the pace of the frantic man who was leading them to where he last saw his wife. He was used to being in front when running, so when his time came to slow down, he found it a little strange.

Ku'ta had ordered a few of his men to follow them into the woods for protection. They were following cautiously behind Donna, who was dodging the tree's as she struggled to keep up with the man and the Doctor. After a few more minutes of running, they had reached a deep part of the forest, but Donna recognised it slightly. They were near the TARDIS.

The man skidded to a halt, so quickly that the Doctor had to stop himself from crashing into the back of the Rydonian. Donna, Ku'ta and the warriors followed shortly after, each of them slowing their pace and stopping.

"What happened, Sa'kua?" Ku'ta asked the man, Sa'kua, who was looking around the trees consistently.

"I-I was here, and my wife was over there," He started, pointing to a set of bushes that were full of little red berries. "We were shouting our daughters name and I came over here, and when I turned to go to her-she, she was gone."

Whilst Sa'kua was explaining his situation again, the Doctor had pulled out his sonic screwdriver and was holding it out in in front of him, the tip glowing blue as he wandered around the area.

"What you looking for?" Donna asked the Doctor, who was now shaking the tool next to his head and giving it a few bats with his hand.

"I'm scanning for anything that shouldn't be in the atmosphere, teleport signals or any type of gases that could have taken old Sa'kua's wife." He explained, shaking the sonic again. Donna noticed it was making an unusual beeping noise.

"I heard her cries from over there." Sa'kua exclaimed, pointing behind a couple of tall trees. Ku'ta turned to the three Rydonian men who he had brought, and gestured for them to go and search around the trees. The three men were instantly walking over to the tree's, their spears raised. The Doctor, meanwhile, continued wandering around with his trusty sonic.

"There doesn't seem to be any fluctuations anywhere, no heat signals, no nothing really. It's like nothing was even here." The Doctor noted to no one in particular as he stopped his scan and placed the sonic back into his pocket.

"Ku'ta!"

One of Ku'ta's men's yells was enough to grab everyone's attention instantly. The Doctor and Donna jogged towards the two men by the tall trees who were stood beside the third Rydonian, who was crouched down on the ground looking at something intently.

Everyone curiously gathered around, the Doctor by the side of the Rydonian in an instant. On the patch of ground, was a small puddle of black liquid almost blending in with the dirt and the twigs.

"Oh well done lads!" The Doctor exclaimed, patting one of the men on the back awkwardly as he too crouched down to inspect the strange black liquid. "Well ,well, well what do we have here? Anything you recognise Ku'ta?"

"I have never seen liquid like that in all my life." Ku'ta told the Time Lord. The Doctor was just about to put his hand down to touch the liquid, when Donna suddenly grabbed his arm and stopped him from continuing.

"Hang on a minute, what if it's dangerous or something?" Donna observed, letting go of the Doctor's arm. The Doctor frowned slightly, but decided Donna may be right. Looking around on the ground, he spotted a relatively long leaf by his left shoe and picked it up. Tentatively but quickly, he dipped the tip of the leaf into the liquid. Nothing happened.

"Well, now we know it's nothing acidic." The Doctor said, bringing the tip of the leaf closer to his face. To everyone apart from Donna, they found it rather odd when the Doctor brought the leaf to his mouth and gave the liquid on it a lick. After a few seconds, he spat roughly onto the ground beside him and grimaced.

"I can't tell exactly what it is, I'm going to have to run an analysis in the TARDIS."

"What is this TARDIS you speak of? Will it help find my wife and child?" Sa'kua asked nervously. The Doctor meanwhile had pulled out a long tube from one of his coat pockets and was filling it with the strange black liquid.

"Hopefully, once I know what it is exactly, it could give us a few clues." The Doctor said, popping the cork-like lid on the tube and putting it back into his pocket. Rising to his feet, the Doctor sniffed loudly and turned to face Ku'ta. Sa'kua and the three Rydonian warriors.

"Right then you lot, I want you to go back to camp, tell your people were getting there, give them a bit of hope, there's a good lad." The Doctor told Ku'ta, who nodded in approval. He then quickly turned to face his companion.

"Donna, I have a job for you too." He told her.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked him a bit confused.

"I want you to go back to the camp whilst I'm in the TARDIS. I want you to find out how old each of the children were who have gone missing. I want to see if there are any similarities or patters between them, it could just give us a few more directions to go down."

"How long will you be?" Donna asked him.

"Half an hour, tops. Shouldn't take to long to analyse it anyway." He replied, pulling out the tube of the liquid again and throwing it in the air to only catch it professionally.

"Come, Donna, me and my men will escort you back to the camp." Ku'ta assured her. Sa'kua was already wandering back.

"I guess I'll see you back in half an hour Spaceman." Donna ruled jokingly to the Time Lord who gave her a grin.

"Not if I see you first." He answered. Donna smiled back at him, and watched as he turned and began walking through the deep forest, hopefully in the right direction.

Ku'ta was stood waiting for Donna as she wandered over to him, the other four Rydonian's already far ahead of them.

"Thank you." Donna commented to the alpha, who merely peaked a smile towards her.

"I have put much of my faith into your friend, Donna." Ku'ta told Donna as they began to head back to camp. "I really do believe he can help us."

"Your lucky you've caught him on a good day." Donna joked. "But really, he is wonderful. And don't ever tell him I said that but he really is. The amount of times I've seen him risk his own life just to save a handful of people or rescue a whole civilization is off the scale. I never would have thought I would meet anyone who would be willing to do that."

"He seems like a good man." Ku'ta said. "But, after everything that has happened, he is blind."

Donna's eyes narrowed sharply as Ku'ta muttered the last part of his sentence.

"What do you mean he's bli-"

Donna never managed to finish her sentence. Ku'ta had suddenly stepped behind her in one quick movement and grabbed her forcefully, a hand over her mouth. Donna tried to scream and push him off, but his strength was too much for her. As she struggled to gain freedom, Donna suddenly felt a sharp sting in the left side of her neck. And the last thing she saw, was the tall tree's and the green bushes spinning as her vision faded into darkness.

**-x-**

**I told you it was going to get interesting...**

**Please leave a review on your way out, I would love to hear what your thoughts are! **


	11. Chapter 10

**Hope your all enjoying this! It's just (hopefully) going to get more and more interesting from this point on...**

**Please read, review, but most of all, enjoy it!**

**-x-**

The Doctor could see the TARDIS coming into view as he neared the end of the forest. The special bond between a Time Lord and their TARDIS had helped him go in the right direction to find his time machine. Not wanting to waste any time, he began jogging towards it.

Fiddling around in his pocket to find the key, he approached the blue box and eventually opened the doors. He rushed inside, and closed the doors behind him. Now, he could get to work.

The Doctor ran around the console a few times, making sure everything was stable before he analysed the liquid. After a few seconds of frantically flicking switches and pushing buttons, he settled in front of the monitor, ready to begin his test.

"Now then, let's get to it!" The Time Lord exclaimed. Reaching down underneath the console, he pulled out a small grey box that had layers of dust coated over it. The Doctor brushed all the dust off into the surrounding air, coughing as some floated into his face.

"Blimey," He commented, setting the box down on a steady part of the console. "Haven't used this in donkeys."

He flicked a pair of tiny locks on the little grey box and quickly opened it, revealing a set of small beakers and wires that looked battered and worn.

"Okay, make that a hell of a load of donkeys."

One by one, he built up the box's contents, looking like a teenager who was about to use a chemistry set for a prank. The beakers were eventually set in a small pattern, some connected to the console, others connected to the monitor. A few moments passed before the Doctor stepped back to admire his work. He then proceeded to pull the sample of the black liquid out of his pocket, followed by his glasses, which he perched onto his nose. He glared at the dark liquid intently.

"Let's find out exactly what you are then." He said, taking the cork like top of the tube. Making a few more adjustments to the wires, he then poured the liquid into the first beaker which was connected to the console. Once all the liquid had flowed into it, the Doctor threw the tube behind him, not hearing the smash that followed. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the beaker with the liquid inside it. After a quick buzz, the liquid began to slowly boil.

"That should do it." The Doctor observed and put his sonic back into his coat pocket. He then stepped over to the monitor and his dark eyes scanned over the Gallifreyan symbols that where whirling around the screen.

The black liquid inside the beaker began to pore through the wires that were connected to the console and gradually, the second beaker began to fill with the liquid, leaving the first one empty. More and more Gallifreyan symbols appeared on the screen as the liquid was being fed through each beaker and wire, with each beaker came more information. Eventually, the last beaker began to fill with the dark liquid. A small processing symbol appeared on the corner of the monitor and the Doctor sighed impatiently.

"Come on, come on." The Doctor groaned, giving the monitor a firm whack with his hand. A few seconds passed before the monitor lit up with a full profile of Gallifreyan symbols. The analysis was complete. The Doctor was instantly reading through the profile, muttering odd notes to himself.

"well...I knew there would be none of that...chemicals...no oxygen cells but a few nitrate ones, species-"

The Doctor abruptly stopped. His eyes slowly widened as he read the species the liquid had came from.

"No, it can't be..."

The Doctor staggered back a few steps and fell into the pilot seat, a dark and horrified look crossing his features. He had believed those creatures to be extinct. They had been exiled, vanished, and imprisoned, every one apparently executed. He remembered hearing stories about them when he was a child. Such an old race that even the Time Lords were meant to fear.

Taking off his glasses, the Doctor rubbed a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh as he did so. He realised that everyone was in extreme danger. Every man, woman and child, every Rydonian, was in danger. He had to get back to warn Ku'ta and, rather importantly to him, get Donna to safety. If anything happened to Donna, he wouldn't forgive himself. Not his best friend.

Forgetting about the equipment, the Doctor put his glasses into his pocket and jumped up from the pilot seat. He sprinted past the console and towards the doors. He had to hurry.

-x-

Donna slowly began to regain her senses as she drifted back into consciousness. She noticed her head was hurting slightly and her mouth was seriously dry. She was also freezing.

Opening her eyes, one painful stretch at a time, Donna noticed how dark it was. Her vision was slightly blurred, but after a few steady blinks, the blurriness cleared.

Donna gasped.

She was in what appeared to be a cage. A stone cage. The gray stone walls were damp and the air smelled strangely of metal. Almost like blood. There were metal bars placed into the stone, forming what looked like, no escape.

Donna rolled onto her side and began to half crawl, half walk over to the metal bars. The cage wasn't that high, the stone ceiling only about a meter and a half high. Someone as big as the Doctor would have trouble coping in such a small space.

When she reached the bars, she peered out of them. The hardly lit atmosphere only showed what looked like a pathway of damp stone walls. Either way she looked, all she could see was darkness. The floor was dirty, in and out of the cage, leaves and mud covering over small stones and bits of rubble. Donna began to feel scared. In such a confined space, and knowing the Doctor probably had no clue as to where she was, she felt afraid.

Donna turned away from the metal bars, attempting to look away from the darkness and to focus more upon where she was placed. As she looked to the other side of the cage, she thought she saw something appearing out of a small hint of light. Reaching over to grab it, she pulled it out to inspect it.

Donna let out a startled scream, retaliating her hand from what she had touched.

A skull. A small skull.

A child's skull.

Donna put a hand over her mouth as she held in a sob. Thinking about the missing children, her heart filled with even more fear and dread. Was this one of them?

"I see you're awake."

Donna sprung round at the sound of Ku'ta's calm voice. He was standing a few feet away from the metal bars, he arms behind his back, a pleased look plastered along his face. Donna suddenly remembered what happened.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" Donna yelled. "What am I doing here?! There is a child's skull in here!"

"We needed to progress onto the next stage." Ku'ta said simply in reaction to Donna's frightened outburst. "A child is doing nothing for us now. We had to move onto women."

"What the hell are you talking about? Is this...where you, where you the one who-"

"Yes Donna, I have been bringing the children here."

Donna looked at Ku'ta with a agonizing stare. "You've been snatching kids away from their families...families of your own tribe. What kind of monster does that?"

"My master will deal with you later, Donna." Ku'ta told Donna simply, before he began walking away into the darkness.

"Just you wait till the Doctor finds out about this!" Donna yelled after him. At the mention of the Doctor's name, Ku'ta abruptly stopped, and turned his head to glare into Donna's eyes.

"When he does...he will be no more."

**-x-**

**You worried yet? **


	12. Chapter 11

**I hope you're all enjoying this still because I'm really enjoying writing it. I'm going on holiday on the 15th for a week, so I'm going to fit in another chapter for 'Love Handles', another chapter for this story and a one-shot I wrote the other day between now and then so you don't all miss me too much while I'm gone! ;) **

**Please read, review, but most of all, enjoy! **

**-x-**

The Doctor was running as fast as his long legs would carry him. The quicker he got to the camp to warn the Rydonian's and get Donna to safety, the more chance he had of stopping the alien he now knew was behind the disappearances. He knew that

Dodging another tree, the Doctor was certain he felt a slight tingle in the back of his mind. It felt exactly like someone was tugging on his thoughts, desperately trying to get his attention the more he ran. Eventually, he realised exactly what it was.

_Time Lord! Time Lord! _

It was Sahara. A very frightened Sahara. The Doctor could feel her presence growing stronger in his mind as he slowed down his pace, skidding to a halt and frantically looking around him for any sign of the terrified Sahara.

_I'm here Sahara, follow my voice. _The Doctor calmly spoke deep within his mind. To his left, the sound of twigs crunching and leaves rustling began to get louder and louder and soon, he could see Sahara's dark figure running full pelt towards him.

_I see you, _Sahara seemed to breathlessly echo through his mind. She disappeared from the Doctors vision momentarily as she ducked behind a bush and then suddenly reappeared, pouncing high into the air and landing rather ungracefully a few feet away from the Doctor, who could now see that there was plain fear on Sahara's almost feline features.

"Sahara, what's wrong?" The Doctor interrogated to the frantic creature, whose red eyes were concentrated deeply into the Time Lord's brown ones.

_I saw something, I saw something terrible. _Sahara cried through the Doctor's mind. She was letting out a high pitched whine, which the Doctor could tell was filled with fear.

"Okay Sahara, don't worry, you're fine now, but you need to tell me what you saw." The Doctor said. Deciding that Sahara needed to be calmed, he took a couple of slow steps forward and placed his hand onto Sahara's pelt, stroking her shaggy black fur with his thumb. Instantly, she seemed to relax slightly.

_It was the leader of the pack, Time Lord. He has took the one you call friend. _

"Took the one I call…" The Doctor faltered but his eyes suddenly widened and his hearts sank. "Donna. The leader of the…Ku'ta! Ku'ta took Donna?"

_Yes, Time Lord. I saw him. He attacked her and led her away. She tried to fight him but his strength outmatched hers. _

The Doctor could feel a mixture of anger and rage and worry begin to boil within him. He took his hand away from Sahara and took a few staggered steps back, trying to control himself.

"But…no, unless Ku'ta is…" The Doctor mumbled to himself as he fixed the pieces together in his mind.

_I didn't know what else to do but follow him. Even though I was frightened, I pulled my fear back enough. I saw where he has taken her, Time Lord. I just had to find you. _

The Doctor realised that he had no option but to get to wherever Ku'ta had taken Donna. If that was indeed the base for the alien, then it would all make sense.

"Okay Sahara, I need you to show me where Ku'ta has taken my friend." The Doctor told Sahara. Sahara seemed to be a little hesitant but at the same time, she nodded her head down to the floor.

_As you wish, Time Lord. I will take you there. _She replied to him. Then, she turned to the side and crouched down to the ground, her claws digging into the dirt. _We will make it faster if you let me carry you. _

The Doctor was a little taken back by the offer. He had never ridden a Z'ylokian before. But he knew that Sahara was right, they would get there faster.

Making his way over to her, the Doctor carefully mounted onto Sahara's back.

"There's a first for everything I suppose." The Doctor said to himself as Sahara raised herself from the ground. The Doctor hadn't realised how tall she actually was until she reached her full height. If he fell, it was a good meter and a bit trip to the ground.

"Sorry if I'm heavy." The Doctor noted to her, but Sahara merely chuckled within his mind.

_I have cubs of my own Doctor; I am used to the burden._

"Oh you have childr-woah!" The Doctor cried as Sahara suddenly jumped into the air, flying over a bush and landing more gracefully onto the ground. Immediately, she began to sprint through the woods. The Doctor clutched onto her long black fur as they ran, her speed reaching that of a cheetahs. The Doctor could feel his coat flapping furiously behind him as they ran, his hair also blowing in the strong rushes of wind. At least at this speed, there was more of a chance of him being able to finish this horrible mess.

As the Doctor and Sahara disappeared quickly through the forest scenery, the pair of them never noticed the small child carefully watching them from behind a thick tree trunk.

**-x-**


End file.
